E: Now we’re getting down to it! November begins the holiday movie season, bringing a blend of family adventure, cartoon, comedy, and awards-bait drama that’s hard to beat.
C: November is also, apparently, the month of movies about one man. But there’s still plenty of variety, depending on whether you prefer a super-spy, a president, a pilot, an actor, a director, an Indian teenager, a video game villain, or a real-life rockstar.
E: Ah. Now that was a more satisfying episode. Of the many reasons, the first one is clearly the lack of the husband who must not be named. What a profound relief to have Kalinda unchained, doing what she does with flair and competence! We had an unambiguous case, and despite the many permutations it undertook, we knew who the good guys were the whole time. That was refreshing. I love the show’s ambiguity, don’t get me wrong, but it’s nice to know we’re fighting for the good guys every once in a while. Diane burns up the courtroom. And while scandal still hangs over Peter’s head, the truth comes out, and it’s a comforting one. It’s always a pleasure when my tendency to assume the worst proves overly pessimistic.
M: Thanks to the final Presidential debate, there was no new episode of Castle for us to review this week. In its place I am going to provide a PSA. Anyone who has read this space regularly knows that I have been a huge advocate of the Canadian show Flashpoint ever since coming across it on CBS’s summer line up a few years ago. Well, thanks to the ineptitude of Ion (the American network that is airing new episodes of it), I wasn’t able to write about it in our Fall TV previews, as no one had any clue when it was going to premiere. Thankfully my DVR was still set up to find it, and when the fifth and (completely bafflingly) final season premiered on October 16th, I was able to catch it. Let me just say, it is back, and better than ever. Since it’s your final chance to catch fresh episodes of what is literally one of the best shows on TV, and the best police procedural by far, I figured I’d do a public service and give you all the heads up. It’s on on Tuesdays (like tonight!) at 11:00 on Ion (which used to be PAX in another life).
From here on out there will be spoilers, so you have been warned.
E: Sometimes I feel like this show has dipped so far into serialization that individual episodes no longer feel like self contained stories. And mostly, I’m okay with that. I like shows to be truly serialized. I like seeing the characters develop over the long haul.
But some weeks, I don’t end up feeling quite satisfied. Some weeks, I feel like we’re getting too many side dishes and no turkey. I know the writers are setting the plots up for the season, and that’s totally reasonable, and yet I grow impatient. It just doesn’t feel like enough – or, in some cases (and I know you know what I’m talking about) someone’s given me a heaping helping of, I don’t know, sauteed peppers and onions, something that I violently dislike and that doesn’t really go with a roasted turkey in the first place.
Anyway, I’m sure it’s clear that after this week’s feast, I’m still feeling pretty hungry.
Okay, that’s enough of the Thanksgiving metaphor. Let’s move on to the recap.
C: What an episode this was! Castle and Beckett go off for a getaway weekend to the Hamptons and stumble on a murder (or rather, a murder victim stumbles on them), and the Wonder Twins decide to find out who Beckett’s mystery boyfriend is!
M: I have to say, I think this might have been my favorite episode of the entire run of the show. It had everything we love about Castle, was fun and funny, and the killer wasn’t even obvious! Loved it!
Relatively Entertaining 